Mass Effect: Lebensraum
by drdreggor
Summary: In 1940, a secret Nazi space program discovers a council research vessel in orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft is lured down, and its technology is used to fuel the German war-machine into achieving superiority over their foes. How will the impending Blitzkrieg on the galaxy shape the future of the Milky Way? AU, no Reapers.
1. Chapter 1: Operation Himmel Eroberung

**Chapter one: Operation Himmel Eroberung**

* * *

 _Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 12_ _th_ _of May, 1940._

"Liftoff! Spacecraft **Die Vorherrschaft** has taken off, with the purpose of bringing our great nation's presence up to the stars!"

Twenty-seven year old Wernervon Braun watched the black and white screen anxiously, as it displayed the progress of the second generation spacecraft, **Die Vorherrrschaft ,** as its boosters were currently in the progress of propelling it above the troposphere.

The control center was packed full with over fifty aerospace operatives, as well as a few party members, who were tensely watching the spectacle occurring on screen. The room was dead silent, except for the continuous reports from the young flight leader, Walter Thiel.

The room, and the project, had been equipped with the latest technological wonders that the Reich had managed to muster: basic digital computers and long range audio/video receivers and transmitters. The amount of funds dumped into this project would be more than enough to produce three full-fledged panzer divisions, which was why everyone in the room knew that failure was not an option. The generosity of the Führer and the OKW meant that their project had to produce results.

The project was, of course, meant to be weaponized; space fairing missiles would be able to hit targets further away than any artillery shell could ever hope to reach, without being endangered to counter artillery fire or airstrikes. To conceive a program that involved manned missions had taken a great deal of convincing of the OKW and the Führer, but the prestigious effects were something that was taken into the consideration in the approval of it.

Ten years of exhausting and determined work was coming to fruition before them. Ten years of constant research, disappointments, and ass-kissing to the party, which had finally realized the two colleagues' dream; the first manned spacecraft in the world.

"Decoupling boosters in: 3… 2… 1… Detach!" Walter reported.

The control crew monitored the boosters' successful detachment from the camera mounted reconnaissance aircraft, which was flying over the aerospace center.

A few tense minutes followed as Walter final declared:

" **Die Vorherrschaft** is successfully orbit around the earth, praise the Führer."

The room erupted in cheering as the men in the room celebrated by hugging one another.

"Gentlemen! I need everyone to attend to their duties at their stations, we have to remain focused, Hauptmann Schwarz will begin his transmission." Werner commanded sharply.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz, space vessel_ _ **Die Vorherrschaft.**_

The shuddering and interference from the powerful V-2 rocket boosters shook Bruno wildly. From his reinforced window he could only see flames engulfing the spacecraft's front.

 _I sure hope these fucking Prussian engineers built something more stable than their piece of shit first generation of spacecraft_ Schwarz thought to himself.

The selection of Schwarz had been a long process, but both he and command agreed on one thing; he was the best guinea pig there was. Specifically a guinea pig that was competent in aviation. Managing a vehicle in space would, of course, be very different to handling the BF-109E he had used on a daily basis in the Poland Campaign. He and nine other pilots had been selected for the trials, which had spanned over two months' time in the classified training facility just a few miles from the launch site. At first they hadn't even known what they were signing up for, only that it was a new prototype aviation vehicle for the Reich. Some of the volunteers chickened out when they heard that they were going to go to space; not Bruno though. He had excelled in the excruciating G-force chamber, as well as the space navigation simulation, but above all; he was expendable. Bruno had no family connected to the aristocracy of the generals, or even any close family, something that made him perfect for a probable suicide mission.

"I have exited the atmosphere and am on orbit trajectory around earth." Bruno reported from within his constraining and uncomfortable Raumanzug I.

" _Roger that Hauptmann, how are you holding up? Report any physical ailments."_ Command answered him.

"I'm mangled up and I think my ribs might be broken, but I am fully operational." Bruno replied grimacing as he focused his mind on his body.

" _Roger that, observe and report, any adjustments to your course should be applied in the thirty minute window we have before communication blackout."_

"Roger that command, commencing burn."

The Hauptmann was gently thudded back into the seat as he activated the V-5 rocket engine to full throttle, turning the ship to the obtain the optimal trajectory to enable a, hopefully, safe entry into earth, and a somewhat controlled landing in the Baltic sea.

Little did Bruno, or command for that matter, realize that the German spacecraft was under careful observation from an unknown entity.

* * *

 _Research Vessel_ _ **Liliac**_ _orbit around Earth._

Nairia was excited. The last three months of observations of this new species had peeked the one hundred and fifteen year old's interest. It was apparent that the world below them was underdeveloped, yet the political and military developments that they had been able to monitor, was intriguing to say the least.

The bridge on the **Liliac** was brisling with activity as all monitoring stations were fully manned and active, as they were gathering as much data on the planet below as possible

To say that the Xeno and anthropology researcher aboard, Orana T'ria was excited as well would be an understatement; a new species that looked so similar to the asari, and was in the stage of an escalating conflict in one of its continents, well that was just something that was unprecedented.

Another person aboard the twenty man crew frigate that was intrigued, for completely different reasons, was head of security, Tonikus Victus. Assigned to the deep space explorer **Liliac** by the Council he and his 5 marines were assigned as a security detail to the newly approved exploration of dormant Relays. A new technological development by the Salarians had made this endeavor possible: Relay Overload. This new piece of technology made sure that unless the right IFF approval got through from the other end of the Relay, everything that came through would be vaporized by using the Relays mass effect cores as a catalyst for a priming device, mounted aboard a ship the size of a dreadnaught. It was the only one in existence, due to the astronomical costs in producing and developing it, meaning that this prototype would be the only one in existence for a long time. The production for the spacecraft had taken over three decades to simply _build._ It was however, very effective in calming the Council's fears of a new Rachni incident.

Victus shared none of his colleagues' interest in this new species' similarities with the Asari; instead he was closely following the progress of the military combat in one of the smaller continents located north of the equatorial line. An incredible operation had commenced where the central state of the continent began a combined arms invasion of its western neighbors. Their superiority was evident in these first two days of combat that Victus had closely observed. Despite the fact that this species had an incredibly crude and basic technology, which was something the Turians had evolved from millennia ago; he found himself impressed by the sheer creativity of how these crude machines and tools were used to wage war. Their propeller driven aircraft proved quite lethal, especially those of the centermost nation, as they destroyed ground forces as well as aircraft with apparent ease. What impressed the turian the most was that they had, from what they could tell, no guidance assist whatsoever! He guessed that targeting and aiming was done manually by using their tracer rounds and by experience.

"Have you seen the latest reports on the aggressor state?" the smooth voice of Dr. T'ria interrupted Victus' thought process.

"Yes…" He answered thoughtfully "It appears that they seem to be a militaristic state with quite the authoritarian rule, wouldn't you agree?"

"Militaristic and war mongering, if you ask me." Orana furrowed her brow, "Their people are all subjects to an apparent dictator."

"We have been able to tap into the limited broadcasts around the 'nation', if you would call it that." The asari said, "They appear to be propaganda pieces of mass gatherings, judging by the roaring of people in the background."

"Now Dr. T'ria, we cannot jump to judgement without knowing the full facts of the situation." Victus replied, "The broadcasts seems to indicate that people are being rallied, probably for the war" he added.

"We don't know the causes for this war, what has transpired before here is unknown to us" he added, "I for one can appreciate the sheer effectiveness of this nation's war machine, despite their crude technology" he said, his subharmonics indicating approval.

Before the asari could reply, a shout from one of the comm specialists turned the entire crew's attention to the source of commotion.

"Captain! We have an object exciting the planet's atmosphere!" The com specialist shouted.

"What!? They are nowhere near the technologic capabilities of firing warheads lik-." The captain answered, bewildered.

"Even so", the specialist interrupted, "they are launching a large object measuring approximately 12 meters in length and 5 meters in diameter, and it's heading into orbit!"

"That sounds too large to be an effective warhead, Captain." Victus interjected.

The bridge went silent as everyone's eyes were glued on the screens monitoring the projectile.

"I've got a clear visual on the screen captain" the com specialist reported, voice high pitched in excitement.

"Bring it up on the main screen" the captain ordered.

The screen flickered for a moment, and then showed a high resolution image of the peculiar object.

Its shape was that of a large missile, painted in black and white with an apparent liquid engine at the very back of it. It had fins on its hull, which were positioned in a symmetric fashion, obviously to provide stability and perhaps to be used to alter its trajectory. It had a large black painted symbol on its body, a symbol that the crew had seen several times on various vehicles and flags utilized by the central nation of the continent.

The most interesting thing was however found near the nose of the obvious rocket: two thick windows on opposing positions near the top.

"Goddess" Dr. T'ria gasped.

"That is a manned spacecraft." Victus added, breathlessly.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz, space vessel_ _ **Die Vorherrschaft,**_ _orbitting Earth_

"Killing main thrusters in 3... 2… 1…" Bruno reported to command.

" _Roger that Schwarz, if you have performed correctly, you should be on the correct trajectory for reentry, well done"_

As the main thruster was coming offline, Bruno felt a violent shuddering in the spacecraft. As he looked through one of the windows that allowed him a slight rear view of his rocket, he could see a blue light emitting from the engine. _Oh shit_.

"Command, I have a problem here, my main thruster appears to still be active?"

There was silence for about thirty seconds before he got his reply:

" _Hauptmann, manually override the fuel flow to the engine, the launch may have weakened the integrity of the fuel switch"_

Bruno was sweating heavily now, despite the cold temperature.

"Manually overriding now"

There was a terrible shuddering and Bruno was almost blinded by the flash emitting from the back and he could observe two of his fins breaking off.

"Command the fuel tank appears to be emptying itself at maximum rate!" he desperately shouted as he watched the fuel gauge go down alarmingly fast.

"I have lost rudder control, I am exiting planned trajectory! _Scheisse!_ " Bruno screamed into his radio.

* * *

 _Research Vessel_ _ **Liliac**_ _orbit around Earth._

The crew watched in awe as the back of the alien spacecraft displayed extreme heat emissions on their sensors.

"Captain! It appears that the vessels fuel tanks are emptying at maximum capacity!" The specialist reported.

"What?" the captain spurted "Are they attempting to exit orbit?" she added, her voice betraying her disbelief.

"No Captain, it appears uncontrolled."

"Explain." the captain demanded.

"Well, they just lost their rudders, and I am also seeing increased radio traffic between the planet and the spacecraft" the specialist answered, voice high pitched. "Would you like to listen in?"

The captain only contemplated it for a moment, after which she nodded her agreement.

The specialists operated a few commands on the Holo screen and a moment later they heard the most awful language they had ever heard exit the ships speakers.

" _You pompous assholes! You are killing me, YOUR INCOMPETENCE IS KILLING ME, scheissen idioten!"_

" _Hauptmann, get a hold of yourself! Attempt decoupling of the fuel tank, it's your ONLY chance of survival"_

" _YOU COCKSUCKING PRUSSIAN SONS OF-"_

"Turn it off." Captain Nairia ordered. "We can't understand them anyway."

"Doctor, what do you make of their language? You're the Xeno researcher here after all." The Captain added.

"It's impossible to tell without understanding their language." Dr. T'ria began, "But judging from their high pitched tones and the differing of volumes of their voices, we could suspect that they were expressing anger, or fright." The doctor continued. "Many known species exhibit a heightened volume in their speech when they are under stress, and if we would assume this to be a fact, then that would certainly prove the fact that this event was not planned."

"The question captain, is what we should do now." Victus interjected, subharmonics vibrating lowly.

 _That was the question._ Captain Nairia thought to herself. _What the fuck should we do about this?_

* * *

 **Authors notes:**

 **So after a few years of only reading, I thought it was time to publish my own story. I would like to hear what you think about it, and see if there's any interest in a story like this, but I'm mostly writing this for my own sake to practice my writing, and to finally realize this story.**

 **This story is partly influenced by DarkDanny's Uplifted series. I think you should check them out if you are interested in WWII with a technological advantage given to the Germans. I, however, want to explore the aspect of war more than personal relationships between characters. Romance etc, might happen, but will never be the focus of this story.**

 **I'm not a nazi sympathizer or anything along those lines, but I am incredibly tired of the US and West focused stories, games, movies etc. I want to read something different from that, which is why I decided to write this.**

 **story! I'm still fine tuning my writing so would appreciate any feedback. When it comes to the technical aspects I am intending in fleshing them out more as the story unfolds. Right now I just want to introduce the story and see if there's any interest. Feel free to review and to follow/fav if you enjoy it.**


	2. Chapter 2: Die Anderen

**Chapter two: Die Anderen**

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz_ _ **Die Vorherrschaft**_ _, on orbitting trajectory to Earth 12_ _th_ _of May, 1940._

 _This is going to be a pretty shitty way to die_. Bruno thought to himself as he successfully detached the fuel cells from the command module of his spacecraft. He was now safe from the possibility of an exploding fuel tank, but was now on an unknown trajectory, and was likely going to end up in orbit of the planet, until the end of time. Shuddering, Bruno inspected the oxygen gauge; ten more hours' worth of air was what he had to look forward to. _I'm going to die alone,_ Bruno feebly put both of his hands on his helmet, _but_ _at least I won't have to deal with the goddamned command shouting orders in my ears._ **Die Vorherrschaft** was about to escape the effective radio range of the aerospace station.

Sighing, he watched the fuel module still following him closely; they were still maintaining roughly the same velocity, and would probably do so until he inevitably died from lack of oxygen. _At least I'm not completely alone,_ the Hauptmann smiled wearily to himself as he was looking at the fuel tank following him. He had no idea how right he was.

* * *

 _Research Vessel_ ** _Liliac_** _orbit around Earth_

 _Captain_ Nairia was looking at her Turian security officer with wide eyes.

"You want to do _what_ Victus?!" she said in an exhale.

The Turian stood erect, with his head held up high, shooting the captain a disapproving look.

"It's the only logical action," he said, "show our generosity to this species and it will foster a healthy relationship in the future."

He looked up at the monitor, which was showing the periled alien craft, and narrowed his eyes.

"They will trust us, and accept our superiority, which in turn will provide us with a strong place in negotiations in the future," He continued "Dr. T'ria, will initiate the Meld, and we will be able to make sense out of their sad excuse for a language."

Captain Nairia was breathing heavily, and her glare towards Victus was difficult to misinterpret.

"We are _not_ to initate any contact; we are here as observers _only._ " she replied, her voice high pitched.

"I have to agree with Sergeant Victus, Captain." Orana suddenly added.

The bridge felt silent, as the entire crew was directing their attention to the doctor.

"This kind of opportunity may _not_ appear itself again." She said.

"The only logical action here is to rescue the derelict spacecraft, _if_ we are to initiate a positive contact." She continued. "We are here to observe, yes, but we are also equipped, and tasked, with initiating first contact, _if_ the opportunity would present itself."

She gestured towards the large monitor on the bridge.

" _This_ is the opportunity presenting itself." She concluded, with a determined nod towards Victus.

The Captain looked thoughtful as she weighed Dr. T'ria's words.

"I… Can see your point, and value your opinions, but the Council will have to be contacted, and they will know what to do." She said with a tone that hinted that the conversation was over.

Victus' subharmonics growled dangerously as he took a step towards the captain; now there was only an arm length between them.

" _There... Is… No… Time, C_ aptain!" He growled. "By the time the council has even been contacted; that vessel will be devoid of any life."

The captain, realizing her defeat, slumped her shoulders and turned towards the pilot.

"Pilot, take us on intercept trajectory and ready the sky hook." The Captain ordered.

Victus and Dr. T'ria shared a look; first contact was going to happen in just under an hour.

* * *

 _Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 13th_ _of May, 1940._

 _The command room was in a state of great turmoil; everyone able was studying schematics and calculating possible trajectories. In the back of their heads was a single, resonating thought:_ _we are fucked._ _If the money invested into this would result in total failure, then the possibility of funding of future projects was next to zero._

 _Project director Werner Von Braun hung his head in his hands, as he was monitoring the proposed trajectory of_ **Die Vorherrschaft** ; it was not looking promising. By current estimations, he would be in a deteriorating orbit around Earth, for at least twelve years. There was no going around the subject now; Hauptmann Schwarz was dead.

All contact had been lost with Hauptmann Schwarz after he had entered the radio dead spot, and all they could really do now was to try to find the source of the failure, and have the responsible scientist punished. If they could put the blame on one person's incompetence, then maybe the project could be kept alive.

Due to the limitations of the radio transmissions, there was no way of remote controlling the spacecraft, or even staying in radio contact with the vessel.

All they could do was to pray that the Hauptmann's end would be painless.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz_ _ **Die Vorherrschaft**_ _, on orbitting trajectory to Earth 13_ _th_ _of May, 1940._

Aboard his doomed craft, Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz was slowly coming to terms with his end in this world. He had been a _good_ German, serving his country in its deciding moment in history. Being a Hauptmann with in the Luftwaffe with over eight kills, was not something anyone would scoff at. He had lived as a good German, and he would die a good German; head held high as he plunged towards his inevitable demise. Being the on the frontline of this scientific endeavor would ensure that his memory would be preserved as a brave German, once the project was declassified of course.

His thought progress was interrupted as his command module shook slightly, as a screeching sound of metal upon metal filled the cramped space with its ominous noise.

 _What the hell_ Bruno thought to himself, _it must be the fuel tank that caught up with me._

When he looked out the window, though, he was greeted by a sight of something looking like a huge hook, which was engulfing the vessel in its arms.

Absolutely dumbfounded, Bruno watched as his vessel was being _dragged_ towards a vessel, which was parallel to his own, and carefully keeping with his orbital velocity.

The vessel was a sleek, silver, _thing._ The obvious spacecraft was several times larger than his own, and seemed incredibly elegant and smoothly operated, as he observed its small maneuvers. _Was this some kind of ruse or other secret project of the Reich? _Bruno thought to himself. _Or am I delirious?_

Still, he could not help to feel grateful to the apparent rescue operation, no matter what the inside of the foreign ship would contain.

* * *

 _Research Vessel_ ** _Liliac_** _orbit around Earth_

The sky hook was having a firm grip of the alien vessel, and the reinforced cable was slowly being retracted to bring the spacecraft toward the **Liliac.**

It had been agreed that an insertion into the shuttle bay was the best way to proceed, ever since the early stages of the mission, when the com specialist had confirmed that the atmosphere on their planet was near _identical_ to Thessia's. A greeting party consisting of the doctor, Captain and the Turian Sergeant would be present after the pressure would be stabilized in the shuttle bay, and initiate a, hopefully, positive first contact.

Tensions were running high on the bridge of the **Liliac,** as the welcome crew was making their way to the shuttle bay, while the alien vessel was being brought aboard.

Three marines were brought with the party to provide security; Sergeant Victus had insisted that a show of strength was a sure way to gain the attention of this militaristic nation.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz_ ** _Die Vorherrschaft_** _, docking bay of the **Liliac.**_

 _Bruno knew one thing for sure: his saviors could_ _not_ _be humans. As he glanced out of his two windows he spotted silvery, clinically clean walls, and some sort of mini hangar bay, where all sorts of weird devices and smaller vehicles were littered about._

Bruno's senses were heightened to a level he had only ever experienced once before; shaking off three inferior Polish PZL P.11 from his tail, and proceeding to down them all. He had already made peace with his Creator, and he knew that he was on borrowed time. What horrible fate would these _demons_ bestow upon him?

He could see six distant figures walking cautiously toward his command pod, and he knew that his only option was to eject from his seat and make contact. _Maybe I can snatch a weapon and hijack the ship?_ The Hauptmann thought to himself.

Sighing to himself, he opened the emergency hatch and exchanged his old tomb to this new threat.

He could see the humanoid figures stopping about ten meters from him, obviously also wearing some kind of space suit.

One by one, the aliens removed their helmets, which made Bruno gasp in surprise. Two of the creatures looked _almost identical_ to humans, except for their monstrous _blue_ skin colour. The rest of them looked like nightmarish birds from hell; sharp metal-like skin with ominous eyes inspecting the, still suited, human. Bruno felt like their eyes were looking at him predatorily, _most likely how my flesh would taste on their plate_ the Hauptmann thought to himself and shuddered.

Looking down at his gauge on his right arm, Bruno realized why he had trouble breathing; the oxygen was going to run out at any moment. Swallowing sharply, the sweat covered German removed his helmet and took a breath.

A stale, metallic taste greeted him, but he was not suffocating! Obviously these creatures breathed the same type of air as humans did, at least that's what he hoped, and removed any thoughts he had about slow suffocation on some alien gas.

One of the blue aliens walked towards him, having something resembling a smile on her face. Bruno took a few staggering steps backwards.

"Don't come near me, witch!" he shouted, to no avail.

The alien took his trembling head in its hands and muttered something _alien_ :

 _"Embrace eternity!"_

After that, it was all blackness.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I would like to thank everyone who have reviewed and followed this story! It really made my day to see the reviews in my mail, and how constructive and supportive they were. But also feel free to state any negative criticism, I want to improve as much as possible!**

 **So we're still off to a slow start on this story, I'm trying to speed things up a bit, while still mainting a coherent story. I'm not a huge fan of the "year 2001 war breaks out, Year 2020 the Alliance unites the earth's governments" etc. I want it to feel like a story that's unfolding, while you're at the same time getting an insight and some perspective of the world it's situated in.**

 **I'm also not a huge fan of a big codex chapter, I personally think they're quite tedious, and I never read them, but I can see their purpose. I would much rather explain technologies briefly in the story instead of having footnotes.**

 **I felt so motivated by the reviews that I wanted to pump out one more chapter before I leave to Finland for a week. I will keep writing there as well though, so expect next update next week. We will continue with first contact and the _Liliac_ will meet with the German command, and party leadership. Expect some action!**


	3. Chapter 3: Der Verlorene Sohn

**Chapter 3: Der verlorene Sohn**

* * *

 _Docking bay of the_ _ **Liliac,**_ _orbit around Earth, 13_ _th_ _of May._

Sergeant Victus watched the alien with great interest as the meld was unfolding; seeing _It_ in person was, of course, quite different to observing its species' masses from afar on vid-screens. The creature was roughly the same height as Victus, standing at around 190 centimeters, and from its body shape seemed to be radiating some strength, judging by the rough outlines of its suit. Glancing at the alien's skin, he could also assume that its soft and fragile texture would permit quite the flexibility in its movements. After taking in the first visual impression of the brown haired specimen before him, Victus couldn't help but noticing its smell. _Repulsive_ Victus thought to himself as grimaced at the strong odor attacking his nose. It reeked like a Varren trapped in a cage for weeks without any care, something that was probably due to the incredibly cramped living space of the alien's space vessel. Another thing that Victus noted was how the being held itself stoic, despite facing a superior force in every aspect. It kept itself defensive, _but it almost feels like it's looking down at us_ , Victus smirked to himself; the creature would soon see the meaning of the word _superior_.

The entire room turned their attention to the Asari, as she was taking a step back from the Alein; the Meld obviously complete. Dr'Tria opened her eyes and spoke in the same abominable way that that Victus had had the questionable pleasure of enduring earlier.

"Hauptmann Schwarz, can you understand me?" said.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz, aboard the_ _ **Liliac**_ _, orbit around Earth._

Bruno's head reared back as his eyes began to display reality around him again, _if this actually was reality_ he thought to himself. He was still reeling from the shock from falling into a sudden coma of some sorts, just by the alien's touch. He had no doubt about that the touch of the foreign creature had caused this sort of reaction. The fact that he had heard some foreign _voice_ talking to him in his head, did not do much to calm him. But he was a _German_ , and the first German space-traveler; he was not going to be intimidated by these creatures.

A few seconds later, his futile attempts of an imitation of the _Übermensch_ faltered, when the blue alien in front of him spoke his mother tongue:

"Hauptmann Schwarz, can you understand me?" The blue alien said in German with a strange accent.

There was a brief pause, as Bruno stared at the alien with a half opened mouth, mind racing at the _impossible_ scenario unfolding before him.

"German… _How… When…"_ Bruno stuttered, his eyes wide in disbelief.

The foreign creature smiled patiently at him, with _her_ hands folded in front of her in a, _disturbingly_ Bruno thought to himself, human way.

"I learned your language from your mind, when I was exchanging information with you, through something called 'The Meld'." The Alien, _no the_ _Asari,_ Bruno mentally corrected himself, spoke slowly to him, as if making sure that he wouldn't misinterpret anything. "It's something that is unique to my species, and it's a tool that comes in handy in situation like this." She smiled.

The other Asari in some kind of formal attire, telling Bruno's ingrained military sixth sense that she was an officer of some sort, said something in a foreign language to the Asari speaking to him. The Asari speaking to him nodded in response and turned her attention back to him.

"I am Doctor Orana T'ria, and I am the lead researcher of this exploration vessel, the **Liliac**. To my left is Captain Naira, the officer in charge of this mission." The Asari officer bowed slightly at the mention of her name. "To my right is the head of our security, Sergeant Tonikus Victus." Dr. T'ria gestured toward the bird-like creature, which had his hands clasped behind his back, and only inclined his head with a minimal nod. "Sergeant Victus is a Turian, which is one of the council races. The Asari and a race called the Salarians are the other two races of the Council." Dr. T'ria said.

The Asari fell silent as she watched Bruno with anticipation. Bruno understood the hint and cleared his throat.

"My name is Bruno Schwarz, I'm a human, and I'm a Hauptmann in the Luftwaffe, the aviation force of the Deutsches Reich." Bruno started hesitantly. "I'm the first human to ever venture into space," he added, "and probably the first human to ever meet aliens." He said, while smirking. "I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for coming to my aid, but I must ask; why _did_ you save me?"

Dr. T'ria bowed gently at the gratitude of the German Hauptmann, before once again speaking in that peculiar accent, _which has an incredibly polite tone to it_ Bruno thought to himself.

"There is a great deal of things that we would like to discuss with you, Hauptmann, including this obvious question that you just mentioned," she answered, "but I would prefer if we could have these discussions in a more pleasant environment than this." She gestured at the docking bay. "Would you like to join us in our meeting room instead?" She inquired. "We will serve drinks and food that should be compatible with your species' natural diet."

Feeling the effects of dehydration beginning to manifest themselves in the form of an intensive headache and a severely hampered speed in his thought process, Bruno hesitated only for a moment before agreeing with a nod. _If I refuse to cooperate, they might just leave me to my fate anyway,_ Bruno thought to himself, _better to play nice and find out more about these creatures. They may prove valuable allies, judging by their technology, or a serious threat, something the German Reich had its fair share of already._

"That sounds acceptable Dr.T'ria, and please thank the Captain for the generosity shown by her, by coming to my aid." Bruno said, offering a salute to the Asari Captain, who he assumed would be the equivalent of a Kapitän of the Kriegsmarine, thereby outranking him.

The Turian gave an unreadable expression with its distinctively _alien_ facial features at his salute. The Captain nodded, after a translation by Dr. T'ria, and motioned the Hauptmann to follow him through the automatically opening steel doors into the ship.

* * *

 _Doctor Orana T'ria, aboard the_ _ **Liliac**_ _, orbit around Earth._

Everything had gone just as smooth as Orana could have hoped for. The meld itself had been very smooth to initiate, and the mind of the alien was not _alien_ as she would have thought. Their language was far from elegant; parts of it were almost similar to the guttural sounds that Batarians spoke, but it didn't take her long for her to get a firm grasp of it.

When she had been exploring the Hauptmann's mind, she had seen traces of a strong and almost indoctrinated militaristic loyalty. _Victus is going to have a new best friend aboard this ship_ , Orana thought to herself. During the Meld she could also feel the Human's thoughts race quickly, jumping from conclusion to conclusion, ideas appearing and disappearing in a way that she would expect to find in a Salarian's mind. _Given their ability to fare into space, when a lot of their infrastructure isn't even developed past a proto-modern species, their creativity and ability could prove highly beneficial in the future, if they were guided properly,_ Orana thought to herself, as they were walking in a row through the narrow corridors of the **Liliac**.

They arrived in the meeting room, which had been hastily cleaned from all the usual datapads lying around, and the dim lit room's purple and black walls were looking pristine. The meeting room was quite spacious, a luxury that was not uncommon on an Asari vessel. The room was about three meters in height, and had seating available for a dozen people. As they sat down at the table, an Asari ensign brought in a plate of several beverages as well as some nutrition bars. Orana could see how the Human's eyes widened at the sight of the refreshments. She smiled to herself; _this might just prove to be a very successful meeting._

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz, aboard the_ _ **Liliac**_ _, orbit around Earth._

Bruno sighed in satisfaction as he downed his fourth cup of water and third piece of the weird, tightly packed food. The food and drinks had done wonders to relieve the considerate tension that he had been feeling the last few hours. They had also helped him to manage to get through the lengthy informational speech that the Asari Doctor had had about the Galactic community and the Citadel Council. All of this was enough to make his head spin, and he felt quite dizzy and exhausted when she had finished. He knew for sure that a mere Hauptmann was not in the position to even begin to tackle the earth shattering information that he had just taken part of; the world, and Bruno himself in particular, felt rather small and insignificant. The Captain and the Sergeant aboard the **Liliac** had, also started to contribute to the discussion, as some kind of translation device had somehow been integrated with the **Liliac** crew's glowing 'watches'. _If only the Reich could take part of all these devices… I have to be able to somehow capitalize on this opportunity!_ Bruno thought to himself.

Dr. T'ria had obviously reached the end of her introduction of the galactic community, as she and the others were all looking at the Hauptmann in a silence that anticipated some kind of answer from him. Bruno straightened up in his chair as he looked over his eagerly anticipating audience.

"As I'm sure you can understand; this is a lot to take in, and I'm in no position to negotiate on behalf of my government, or Humanity for that matter." Bruno said, carefully choosing his words. "Since you chose to save me, you will be making negotiations with the Deutsches Reich, and not any of the other nations of the world. Since we are in a state of war, or careful diplomatic negotiations with several nations, any nation that would get wind of this, would use it as a weapon against my people." The Hauptmann continued.

Captain Naira nodded, and was the first to respond. After the translation of Bruno's language became available to the other crew, she had gradually taken charge of the situation from Dr. T'ria, and was leading the discussion more and more.

"We fully understand your country's relationship with many other nations is… Complicated to say the least." Captain Naira answered politely.

 _That's one way to put it_ , Bruno thought to himself. "Therefore it's my recommendation that we urgently make contact with my command central in Kummersdorf, Germany. From there you can proceed with negotiations with people who are actually able to make real decisions." Bruno said with a tired smile as he finished.

There was a pause in Bruno's talking as the aliens started to discuss what he had just said. They had turned off their translation equipment, so Bruno wasn't able to hear what they were talking about, but he could make an educated guess; _are they ready to deal with the consequences of going down to Earth to meet the leadership of the Deutsches Reich?_

* * *

 _Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 14th_ _of May, 1940._

In another part of the world, Germany had achieved early triumphs against a numerically superior enemy, and the panzer divisions of the Reich had breached the defenses of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Ardennes. The successful coordination of the different branches of the German military machine were in the progress of breaking their surprised adversaries.

The Aerospace command of Kummersdorf was as far away you could come from a German success story.

Werner von Braun hadn't slept more than two hours these last two days, and his patience was wearing thin, especially with arrogant engineers like the one before him, who might very well be responsible for the failure of **Die Vorherrschaft**. As his yelled lecturing of the man before him sent the latter walking away hurriedly from his office, Werner sat down wearily at his desk, where his phone kept ringing.

The OKW had been breathing down his neck, ever since the failure of **Die Vorherrschaft** became apparent. He was running out of explanations, as their simulations and calculations had yet to bring a probable cause to light. One explanation might be faulty electrical coupling in control panel, but the evidence he had was only based on guesswork, not on any hard evidence. To make matters worse; Hitler had _personally_ called von Braun to express his displeasure at the failure, and said that he 'was expecting answers in a day'.

 _If only we could have somehow recorded what had happened, or been able get some debris from the spacecraft,_ Werner frustratingly thought to himself.

A sudden shouting interrupted his thoughts, "Direktor von Braun!" The flight leader Walter Thiel shouted excitedly. "You better come see this!"

 _Perhaps they have finally found a probable cause? That would get the OKW and Führer off their backs… Maybe._ Werner thought to himself as he rushed down the metal stairs to his office, down to the oval shaped command central.

Thiel looked ecstatic, mouth wide, and a smile on his face as he spoke, "You are not going to believe this Werner; we have a signal!"

Werner looked at the flight leader with furrowed brows. "How can the vessel be in range at this point? We aren't counting on potential contact until three more days, at the earliest!" Werner said, flabbergasted. "Have our calculations been that off?" He added.

Walter laughed at his words, "Sir, you don't understand; we are in contact with Hauptmann Schwarz." The flight leader said, looking almost as skeptical at his own words as von Braun did. "He's alive, and he's _not_ alone!"

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So did anyone notice some kind of different title for a certain character? Well I did some more research on the ranks of the Luftwaffe and noticed that I had screwed up. So this will be corrected in the previous chapters as well.**

 **We're now getting somewhere, and I can just say that my ideas for this story have multiplied with every chapter. There are so many interesting ideas I would like to explore, but I realize that I have to narrow them down. But these next chapters are going to reveal some intrigues in the German project, and among the alien visitors. Stay tuned!**


	4. Chapter 4: Harte Diplomatie

**_Chapter 4: Harte Diplomatie_**

* * *

 _Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 14_ _th_ _of May, 1940._

Werner von Braun was leaned against one of the concrete pillars surrounding the command central. He was watching the bristling activity in the room with tired eyes, as he lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't help but to smile to himself, _this program just got knocked up to priority one for the Reich._ He was in dire need of this smoke, not only because of his exhaustion, but because of the meeting he was about to attend.

When the fight leader had told Werner that Hauptmann Schwarz was aboard an alien vessel, he had nearly slapped the man across his face with his Luger pistol. There was a time for jokes and this was certainly neither the time nor the place. But then he had been given the radio headphones and had heard the unmistakable voice of Hauptmann Scwarz; he was alive and well aboard an alien spacecraft that was apparently called the **Liliac**. The entire command central was quiet for well over twenty seconds, as this new information was processed by the exhausted staff of the command central, as they heard Bruno Schwarz' report being broadcasted on the speakers of the oval shaped room.

The bewilderment lasted only for that long, after which German efficiency took over. Hauptmann Schwarz' report was being written down and discussed about a self-selected group of specialists, and Werner kept contact with Bruno and started to get a full picture of what the Hauptmann had experienced, as well as what these Aliens wanted.

The crew was of course all relieved that their colleague and friend Bruno was alive, but duty to the Fatherland came first, and the survival of their program, and maybe even country, was at stake.

It seemed that the Aliens wanted to establish a dialogue with the German Reich, most likely due to their first contact being with their country's Hauptmann. This was an opportunity that could not be squandered.

The OKW had had a similar reaction to Werner's when he had informed them about what had happened with their spacecraft and Hauptmann. It took a visit from Generalfeldmarshall Wilhelm Kietel, the chief of the OKW, to confirm the outrageous assertions made by the Aerospace team at Kummersdorf.

Reading through the reports of Hauptmann Schwarz, a specialist team dubbed _ANTWORT_ was formed, which included only Wehrmacht personnel, with the exception of Walter, who would be contributing in an advisory role. The purpose of this team was to develop an appropriate response to the new development, and the first meeting was just about to take place in the concrete conference room, which was were Walter was headed.

* * *

 _Conference room, Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 14_ _th_ _of May._

Generalfeldmarshall Kietel already stood with his hands behind his back, wearing an impeccably clean uniform as always, as the other five members of the group entered the room. The moustache clad Brunswickian had a certain regal elegance to him, _probably why Hitler likes him so much, even though he's as much a warrior as a French whore is an engineer in aeronautics_ Werner thought to himself.

"Gentlemen," Kietel started in a commanding voice, as the other members of _ANTWORT_ got seated, "I'm sure that you're all well aware that the future of the Reich may very well be decided in this room."

"This matter is too important to have the Führer dealing with it," Kietel continued, getting approving nods from the other Wehrmacht personnel present, "This is first and foremost a military operation, until I say otherwise, and I will not leave this matter to politicians when vigorous men as ourselves can handle this in the best interest of the Reich."

The other Wehrmacht men nodded seriously at this, which made Werner, discreetly, roll his eyes. _Mein Got, let us not have an inspirational speak after forty-eight hours of non-stop work._

"Advanced alien life is confirmed, and they obviously possess technology vastly superior to anything ever made by man," Kietel continued as he eyed everyone in the room, "The intel gathered by the specialists team evaluating Hauptmann Schwarz' report confirms this, and the question we must ask," The Field Marshal leaned forward over the table, "is how to obtain this for the Reich?"

A dark haired middle aged Generalmajor named Walter Warlimont spoke up, "We have a detachment of eighty-eights just an hour away from here, if stationed under any agreed upon landing, we could take them down by overwhelming flak fire."

"No you moron…" Werner muttered.

The entire room turned towards the director of the program. Warlimont's eyes narrowed at Werner. _I said that out loud didn't I?_ Werner swallowed hard, _oh well, no point in beating around the bush now._

"The report you have obviously failed to read, clearly states that the alien craft has some kind of powerful shield function, not to mention the actual speed with which this vessel can propel itself. The report that you evidently only skimmed through, also states that the ship _is armed_. Any attack while it's in the air will result in all of our deaths." Werner said sharply at Warlimont.

"How… dare you!" Warlimont said through his teeth, "Herr Generalfeldmarshall, I will not tolerate this behavior from a _civilian_!" The Generalmajor was fuming, and had turned towards Kietel.

Kietel only raised his hand in a calming manner, "Now now, I believe the director has been under a fair bit of stress lately, so we will have to show _some_ understanding." Kietel warningly empathized _some_ as he glanced at Werner with a hint of amusement in his eyes, "And the director is right; the vessel is not just some old biplane that we can smack down with flak, we will need a different approach."

Warlimont had a defiant look in his eyes for just a second, before he turned towards von Braun again, "And I assume that _you_ have a better idea director?" he said sarcastically.

"Yes," Werner answered without skipping a beat, "Although I'm not military, I do have an idea on how to obtain a possible advantage over these aliens."

As Werner began explaining his proposition, the room listened with their undivided attention, and a fiendish smile started to appear in Kietel's face.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Schwarz, aboard the_ _ **Liliac**_ _, en route to Earth 15_ _th_ _of May._

Bruno was playing nice. As nice as one could, and should, when confined to an alien spaceship and surrounded by a heavily armed force. Bruno was mentally drained after the two hour long report he had to do to command, knowing that any suspicious statement he would make of the aliens would result in horrible things happening. He had made the mistake of longingly looking at the Turian's weapon for too long, which had made the alien amusingly gripping it in his _talon_ , smirking arrogantly at Bruno as if saying _I dare you to do it_.

So he played nice, answered to their questions as best as he could, and waited to arrive home to his _species_ again.

Particularly annoying was the Asari researcher Dr. T'ria, who was constantly bombarding him with questions about the history and society of Germany, and humanity itself. No matter how much he tried to explain the current conflict, and the events leading up to it, the Asari always found a way of dismissing his attempts of defending the actions of his countries as an "uncivilized response for an uncivilized people".

"You say that this _Treaty of Versailles,_ crippled you economically," Dr.T'ria said with that calm voice, that Bruno had learned hid a smugness that would make a Prussian Junker jealous, "But now you are yet again embroiled in a new conflict, started by your country, with an increased military expenditure that will undoubtedly cripple your economy once more."

"I do not expect you to understand Doctor," Bruno said as stoically as he could, although he was raging inside, "Being treated unjustly creates a drive in us humans, something that makes us go through hell and back to undo. We have not being given an inch by the Allied _Schweinehunden_ , so we must take what is rightfully ours, and ensure our Fatherland's survival by eliminating the opposition."

Dr.T'ria shook her head, while smiling patiently, as if talking to an uneducated child, "You will see that once we have established contact with your government, and provided you with a model with how diplomatic relationships work, you will see this conflict for what it is; a handicap to your race."

Sergeant Victus turned his face up from his report writing on his datapad to look at the two who were talking.

"T'ria, do not presume you know everything there is about war," Victus said carefully, "Sometimes the only way to ensure your survival _is_ by conflict, something I sometimes think the Asari have forgotten."

The Asari looked sadly at the Turian across the table, "Please do not feel sorry for that the Asari race have evolved beyond petty wars unless an absolute necessity." She retorted.

"Enough, both of you!" Captain Naira said, silencing the room, "We have gotten a map location for a possible landing zone for the **Liliac**. From there we will establish contact with the _German_ government, and from there we will proceed with diplomacy." Naira glared at her two crewmembers, before turning her gaze towards Bruno, "Hauptmann Schwarz, we _are_ looking forward to establishing peaceful contact with your government, but please do understand that a war among your own species is foreign to us in our current society."

 _What is it with these Asari being self-entitled masters of civilization_ , Bruno thought wearily to himself. _Atleast the Turian seems to be understanding what a patriotic struggle actually entails._

"We look forward to meeting your welcome committee." The Captain said politely.

 _Oh I believe this will be a welcoming committee alright, you subhuman piece of shit_ , Bruno thought as he nodded and smiled in anticipation.

* * *

 _Oberst Gerhard Kölpin,2_ _nd_ _Flak-Abteilung, Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

"Schnell, set up here in the treeline!" Oberst Gerhard Kölpin shouted to his company commanders. His battalion had gotten the call from OKW just four hours ago that there would be a potential target _landing_ in the designated clearing where he was now setting up his eighty-eight millimeter flak battalion. The more curios information had been about _what_ would be landing, and Gerhard had been dumbfounded for a while when the instructions came in about the target, but Gerhard knew well enough not to second-guess an order when it came from OKW.

With his five hundred men strong battalion deployed, there was only an eerie silence as they waited for their target to arrive. It was a peaceful day, and the sun was just about to set as it cast its rays through the few clouds that were still in the sky.

After only a few minutes a distant _humming_ sound could be heard, and the men gaped in awe.

 _What in the Führers name is THAT?_

A large, sleek, silvery _aircraft_ of some sort was breaking through the clouds right in front of their eyes. It didn't have a single visible propeller, and as it neared the clearing, it started _hovering_ above the ground. The Oberst looked at his second in command, and Oberstleutnant who was just shaking his head in disbelief at the awe-inspiring sight.

Gerhard saw that most of his men had the same expression as his second in command, and sprang to action, "Men! We are here to do a job, not be gaping at a bad magic show; Get it _together!"_ He snapped at his men, which caused them to snap out of their comatose like state.

 _Let's see if the OKW has thought this through_ the Oberst thought as he saw his men acquiring their target.

* * *

 _Dr. T'ria Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

 _These humans are a sight to behold!_ T'ria thought to herself as she saw the men lining up in formation on the ground below her. She also noted the guns that were aimed at her but, like her Captain, paid little heed to these primitive beings probable pea shooters. After all, precautions were natural by a species newly introduced to a vastly more advanced one.

, Hauptmann Schwarz, Captain Naira and Sergeant Victus all exited the **Liliac** by the ramp that had just touched Earth's soil. The visitors all took a deep breath, inhaling the peculiar scent of a new world.

Before them stood two men, one clad in a grey clothing with ornaments on it, _probably an officer if one is to compare to the Turian military fatigues_ , T'ria thought to herself. Next to the military man was a dark haired human that was wearing a different kind of clothing; he had a completely black jacket on with a cloth piece hanging down from around his neck. _Probably a civilian of some sorts, perhaps a manager of this program?_ T'ria guessed.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you to Earth, and Germany." The uniform clad man said, smiling and approaching and shaking the hand of all of them, saving Bruno for last, "And I congratulate you Hauptmann on making it back in one piece with some new friends." He said, before they saluted each other.

"I am Generalfeldmarshall Kietel, and next to me is the director of our space program; Werner von Braun." The man gestured the civilian man, who smiled and introduced himself.

Captain Naira greeted them all formally and introduced herself, "I am Captain Naira, of the exploration vessel **Liliac** , I hope that we can initiate peaceful cooperation, and hopefully help your people resolve your diplomatic issue on this planet in a civilized manner."

The uniformed man gave a peculiar expression at this, eyes narrowing for just a second, before he smiled again and nodded, "That is our hope as well."

Kietel continued, "It is a tradition here in our culture that when meeting a new friendly ally, all of our ranks are allowed to intermingle, to prove trust and a promise of friendship in the future. I'm certain of course that there are sensitive equipment and information on your spacecraft that you are perhaps not at liberty to share, so we would like to invite your crew outside to meet our men in a friendly manner."

Victus growled slightly at this, and he turned off his translator before speaking, "This is not protocol Captain, we can't leave the ship unmanned." He said quietly to the Captain.

Dr. T'ria answered sharply before the Captain could respond, "This is the future of our diplomatic relationship with this species Sergeant! We have to meet them on their terms _and_ respect their customs. If we fail in establishing a successful first contact, we might ruin these chances forever."

The Captain nodded at T'ria's words and opened her omnitool to contact the crew aboard the **Liliac** , ordering all fifteen of them to come outside.

"Excellent," Kieter said, smiling, "If you four could please accompany us to our makeshift meeting room, to discuss where to go from now, the rest of our people can intermingle and create a bond of friendship."

T'ria was delighted to hear Kieter's kind words, and she also saw the sense in creating a bond among the common enlisted men and women, which would make the report of this contact being received as a model for future generations in establishing first contact with primitive races.

As the crew exited the spacecraft, and the delegation made their way over the hilltop surrounding the area, they didn't pay any notice to the team of engineers making their way with a heave cable towards the **Liliac**.

* * *

 _Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

Ensign Arana couldn't believe her luck; she was going to meet the humans and talk casually with them, and be among the first to ever do so in an informal way!

The humans had given them pamphlets and some pictures that the crew were all busy looking through the interesting material; most of it seeming to be centered on the, quite ugly, mustache clad leader of their country. Just to feel the texture and look at it was amazing, even though it was something the Asari hadn't used in many centuries.

They were surrounded by easily a hundred men who were happily chatting away with them; Arana couldn't help but blush when one young looking blond man had asked if all women of her race were as beautiful as she was.

The humans said they wanted to show them their favorite game, and went running after the necessary equipment for performing it. The crewmembers were all smiling and laughing at the innocence of this race, and how eager and easy-going they all seemed.

"What's the game called?" Arana shouted after the blond haired man she had spoken to.

He smiled back and shouted, with a commanding voice, " _KRIEG!"_

 _Oberst Gerhard Kölpin,2_ _nd_ _Flak-Abteilung, Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

" _KRIEG!"_ Gerhard heard the distant signal from one of the men from the infantry company assigned to them.

"Operation is a go! Load HE and wait thirty for the engineers to finish their overloading of the vessel!" Gerhard shouted to his men.

Not a moment later, they could see sparkles and lightning fly all around the alien vessel, its crewmembers in front turning around in shock.

" _FEUER!"_ Gerhard shouted to his battalion, as over a dozen flak eighty-eight opened fire on the aliens in front of the vessel.

Over a dozen guns opened fire in a mighty barrage of fire, as the ground in front of the vessel exploded in flames. They could see blue shimmering throughout the smoky aftermath of the awesome bombardment.

"Their shields are still up! Another round!" The Oberst ordered.

The guns fired again, and Gerhard could see some at least one alien crawling towards the ramp leading up into the spacecraft. A moment later, a round hit the alien directly, sending pieces of _it_ flying all over the ground. unhuman screams were becoming audible as the infantry companies started hailing the remaining aliens alive with machine gun fire.

Gerhard could hear a distinctively _alien_ gun noise as well, as he saw blue light emit bursts of fire towards the infantry's pre dug, and hidden, fox holes.

"Gun three and four, another HE round, Feuer!" The Oberst ordered, as the two guns to his left fired from their hidden position in the woods.

A thunderous roar was heard as a round hit the very ramp that two unlucky blue aliens were straggling up. They were sent flying sideways, well over thirty meters to the left of the ship, with their lower parts of their bodies missing. Azure _blood_ was soaking the ground they were on, as they gurgled weakly before being silenced for good by machinegun fire.

* * *

 _Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

Ensign Arana was desperately crawling on all _three_ to get in cover behind the ramp. The first few shots in her vicinity had had their blast partially deflected by her shields, but the third or fourth had left her without the lower part of her left arm. It was now only a bleeding mess, and she had various shrapnel wounds in her abdomen that were bleeding profusely.

To say that she was terrified would be an understatement; next to her, behind the ramp, was a headless corpse of a Turian, an ensign just like her. Shivering uncontrollably, and in horrendous pain, she took out her pistol, the M1 Tera, and tried to acquire a target from her questionably safe position. _I'm barely military trained, but I can still make it out alive from these barbarians… I have to,_ she thought to herself with her thoughts racing. The shelling had stopped, and she could only hear sporadic gunfire in front of her. A sudden impact to her shoulder made her gasp and drop her gun. Her shields were beyond repair, and any kind of gunfire would undoubtedly hurt her.

A black boot stepped on her right arm, preventing her from picking it up. Shouting in pain, she looked up, and saw the blond haired youth from before, aiming a gun at her head.

"Untermenschen." He said, and ended Arana's life with a shot to the head.


	5. Chapter 5: Rauch und Hoffnung

_**Chapter 4: Rauch und Hoffnung**_

* * *

 _Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May_

As soon as Captain Naira had heard the first distant booms from cannon fire and the following explosions, she knew that they had been duped.

"This is Captain Naira to any crewmember of the **Liliac** , status report!" she said into her omni-tool, broadcasting on all frequencies.

Her entourage moved nervously around her, and she could tell that Victus was already preparing for a fight, with his eyes evaluating the humans around him. He could probably, just like her, come to the conclusion that the humans had a significant advantage in numbers. Not counting the three who were escorting them; Werner von Braun, Bruno Schwarz and Field Marshal Kietel; there were at least two hundred soldiers surrounding them, every single one of them armed with primitive weaponry. Even though the humans' weapons were laughably crude, they still did their jobs well enough, something their monitoring of the planet, and the ongoing conflict, had proven.

There was only static on her omni-tool for about fifteen seconds, something that in the situation seemed like an eternity.

"…. _er fire! I repeat we are under-…"_ She could hear before her omni-tool was yet again filled with static. She made a series of quick commands and was horrified when she was _unable_ to access the ship's monitoring equipment. Something only a powerful overload or EMP would be able to disable briefly. She did, however, manage to access one of her crew's shoulder cameras, which was being used by the majority of her crew to record all interaction with this new species. What she saw left her speechless; there was a seen of absolute _carnage_ , as shells were exploding around, what she assumed, was the access ramp. A few of her crewmembers were doing their best to maintain a biotic barrier, and some were trying to acquire targets with their light weaponry. But under the constant shelling, none were able to maintain their defenses, and they all fell, one by one, to the undoubtedly _human_ fire.

She had a shocked expression on her face as she looked up at Field Marshal Kietel, who had a serious, yet triumphant look on his face.

"My apologies for the deception Captain Naira, but let us not do anything hasty; there is a chance for you, and your remaining crew to survive this." Kietel said in a seemingly apologetic but absolutely authoritarian tone.

Sergeant Victus was the first one to speak up, his words preceded by a vicious growl.

"Something _hasty?_ What the hell would you call what you just did," Victus said between his teeth and took out his hand cannon which he trained on Kietel, "Tell me why I shouldn't end your miserable existence here and now!"

Kietel flinched slightly at the gun aimed at his head, but kept his composure, as he stared stoically at the Turian in front of him.

"I don't expect you to understand, Sergeant, but know this; the only way you and the rest of your crewmembers get out of this alive, is by cooperating. You can end my life, and probably a great deal of other lives as well, but your ship is disabled, and our superior numbers will eventually bring the three of you down." Kietel said with a commanding voice.

 _He's right,_ Captain Naira thought to herself. Despite the fury of the three crewmembers of the **Liliac,** they simply had no chance of surviving a prolonged battle and successfully reclaiming their ship, which was now undoubtedly guarded by even more German soldiers.

Naira put a hand on Victus' arm and shook her head when he glanced at her.

"Put your gun down Victus, we will gain nothing from putting up a valiant last stand, even though I'm sure your Turian honor demands it." she said sadly to the Turian.

Victus growled viciously, and put his gun down, something Naira could see took him all the discipline he could muster.

Kietel smiled viciously at them and ordered his men to lower their weapons as well.

"I'm glad that you could see reason. Now, if you would follow me we will proceed with a meeting that could save your lives." he said as he motioned towards an entrance to what appeared to be a concrete bunker of some sorts.

The three crewmembers made their way to the entrance with enveloped with unshakable dread.

* * *

 _Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz Landing site, 50 km from Aerospace base Kummersdorf, Germany 15_ _th_ _of May._

Bruno was ecstatic; he had secretly hoped for an _explosive_ welcoming for the smug aliens, and what a welcoming they had gotten! Although Bruno had been unable to observe the battle himself, he had been able to hear the wondrous sound of the flak artillery wreaking havoc on the aliens. He had not been informed of any details, due to the alien's translation software and presence at all his communications with ground control, therefore he had only been able to hope that the ground control and OKW would decide for some _aggressive negotiations_.

Bruno was especially giddy about the baffled look on Dr. T'ria's face when reality had dawned upon them. He did, however, secretly hope that the Turian, Victus, would see reason. Victus had seemed the least disrespectful while he was aboard the **Liliac** , and having an alien ally would always come in handy. _I will have to remember to mention this to the Generalfeldmarshall, perhaps they will show some leniency…_ Schwarz thought to himself.

He had been excused from any initial _negotiation_ with the aliens, and was instead rewarded with inspecting the site of the battle and to list all casualties. Although he was not at all a part of the unit which had unleashed hell upon the aliens, his newfound expertise and experience with the aliens had rewarded him with special privileges.

The scene of the slaughter was a sight to behold; the entire field in front of the spacecraft was cratered beyond recognition, with small fires still burning, and alien bodies littering the ground. The spacecraft itself seemed virtually untouched from the carnage around it, something Bruno didn't know how he should feel about; no flak battery was so precise that they would avoid hitting the large object.

Bruno counted nineteen dead aliens; although it was hard to tell which body part belonged to which alien. Bruno also solemnly counted twelve dead Germans, who were mostly killed by shots that had incredibly small entry holes, but obviously wreaked havoc on the inside. Two of the dead Germans had been killed without any bullet holes, but with decaying, almost _melting_ tissue as obvious cause of death instead.

* * *

 _Werner von Braun, improvised interrogation building, Kummersdorf, Germany 16_ _th_ _of May._

"… Also let me remind you von Braun that it was _your_ idea with the whole ambush plan, which costed at least twelve Germans their lives! You of all people should realize that we have nothing to gain in being lenient with these creatures!" Generalmajor Warlimont shouted, while slamming his fist in the table for apparent dramatic effect.

The recently formed _ANTWORT_ team was having quite the heated discussion regarding how they would proceed with their _negotiations_ with the aliens; Werner being in favor of providing a humane treatment of the prisoners in order to loosen them up, while Walter Warlimont was furious over the loss of men, and demanded retribution in the form of torture.

Werner was squeezing his temples while listening to the rambling of the man in the chair on the opposite side of the table in the dimly lit room, which had been hastily repurposed as an intelligence central, instead of its original purpose as a observational installment of rocket launches. The room was devoid of any form of decoration, and was bathing in a fluorescent light that barely allowed for any form of reading. The aliens had been separated into individual cells; rooms that once had housed heavy machinery.

"While it is true that the general idea of the plan came from me, Generalmajor, that situation was quite unlike what we now have on our hands," Werner said, pouring the last ounces of patience that he had left into his words, "We were facing a heavily armed, and technologically superior foe, and the only successful outcome from an armed confrontation was, as we discussed, a deceptive and drastic approach. We now have three prisoners who are unarmed and unable to put up a sizeable amount of resistance; any overly harsh treatment will not grant us any better results than if we handle their treatment humane."

Warlimont's eyes widened at this, and he quickly arose from his seat in anger.

" _Humane?_ They are not even _humans_ you weak minded-" Warlimont roared at von Braun, before being silenced by Keitel raising his hand to stop the argument.

"While you are right about our approach to the initial landing of the aliens von Braun, I'm afraid that your judgement about these interrogations is flawed by your civilian perspective. This is a military matter, and I have to agree with Warlimont's plan of action here." Keitel said.

Werner only gaped at the Generalfeldmarshall; _I thought he seemed like the reasonable man here!_

Kietel continued, "I have received additional information concerning our three captives from Hauptmann Schwarz. If we put the right amount of pressure on some of our captives, we may stand to gain some results from their incarceration. Otherwise all we will end up with is three more autopsy samples."

Kietel leaned forward on the table and eyed everyone around it.

"The Turian is the key to the Reich's triumph."

* * *

 _Sergeant Victus, improvised interrogation building, Kummersdorf, Germany 17_ _h_ _of May._

Victus sat in his improvised cell with his head resting in his talons. _Spirits my family name will be ruined if I ever make it out of this alive; outmaneuvered by_ _ **Primitives**_ **!** It seemed however like his family would escape embarrassment; no food or water had been provided in two days, and the Turian was starting to feel the dehydration. His cell was only a concrete room with a steel door; there was no bed, toilet or any kind of furniture or necessities. So far he had simply tried to sleep on the hard floor, and was left to increasingly depressive thoughts.

His thoughts were starting to think of something, _anything_ that he could use to escape this hellhole. Unless they ever came to feed him, he would not have a chance to escape; the steel door of his prison cell was firmly locked with what had sounded like multiple metallic locks. A crude, but effective way of keeping the unarmed Turian confined.

Instead he thought of any kind of bargaining chip he could use to negotiate his freedom, _if these damned savages would even consider such a notion as negotiation._ He came from a strictly military family, and as such any contact with them would end in his family's embarrassment, and the rest of his life probably being worse than being stuck in a foreign species prison cell.

 _Think! What do these primitives want… Need?_ He racked his brain as he thought about their constant surveillance of the planet and conflict from the **Liliac**. There was one thing that seemed to triumph everything with the people that were holding him captive: War. They needed machines of war, they had probably attacked them to seize their technology to gain an advantage in the ongoing conflict. _Yes, that's it!_ Victus thought to himself as he rubbed his aching head. _What they will get from the_ _ **Liliac**_ _can't possibly be enough for their huge, crude war machine._

As his mind was racing over the possibilities of survival, and avoiding dishonoring his family name, a name from said family appeared in his head. _Horrus!_ His distant cousin was one of the few of the Victus family who hadn't ventured for a military career. Instead he was an arms dealer, dealing with costumers that the Sergeant had always thought were highly suspicious. _A trade… Some of the most useless weapons from my cousin, for my life._ _If I deal with my cousin, the rest of my family will never need to know the full truth of what happened here, and I may avoid a life in constant shame_.

Victus smiled to himself as he formulated his plan. _As long as the Council doesn't find out about this._

* * *

 _Presidium, Councilor Tevos' private chambers, The Citadel._

Tevos furrowed her brow as she read the latest report from the covert exploratory flotilla, which was currently in the progress of investigating a series of relays that had been deemed safe to explore. Most of the reports were nothing entirely unexpected; gas giants, and one garden world so far.

The relatively young Asari councilor had risen to prominence due to her reputation of being unusually decisive for her race, and also thanks to her connections with all the right people in all the right places.

What was causing Tevos concern where she was sitting in her comfortable couch, in her spacious and lavishly decorated apartment, was the fact that one of the most advanced ships of the flotilla, the **Liliac** , had failed to send any report for over two days. Protocol was to send an _all clear_ message every twelve hours, just to confirm that nothing was out of the ordinary. Comm buoys were being littered in the flotilla's wake to ensure QEC at all times.

Tevos sighed and put the data-pad away, _they have twenty-four hours to report in, then we begin a search and investigation party._

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So we've got a sneaky Turian!**

 **Sorry if this took too long, I write when I have time and it feels right, and this week it felt good. Not that much happening this chapter, but is a necessary build-up for the story. I'd like to thank you guys for all the follows and reviews, I read every single one and value their feedback, even though I suck at replying to them.**

 **I don't mind any critique, it helps me to make this better. One reviewer for example pointed out the lack of use of biotics in the last chapter. It was used, but mostly as barriers, but also as you can see in this chapter, offensively.**

 **The council is about to pick up the trail, will the German galactic supremacy be killed in its infancy? Probably not, would be a very short story. Stay tuned and thanks for the support!**


	6. Chapter 6: Überzeugung

Chapter 6: Überzeugung

* * *

 _Dr. T'ria, holding cell, Kummersdorf, Germany 19_ _th_ _of May._

For four days the Asari doctor had been contemplating the events that had unfolded after their initial first contact with the Humans. Humans that she now knew were instinctively ferocious, conniving and opportunistic. In the event of contact with a hostile race that was capable of potential danger to galactic society, protocol was that contact should be limited and that all technology not essential to survival was to be disposed of, if it could possibly be acquired by the race posing the danger.

Since all of their weapons, devices and even _ship_ , had been acquired by the Humans, all that T'ria could do to follow this protocol was to withhold information. Even though she had no formal training in interrogation and torture resistance, she had so far resisted all of their acts of intimidations and abuse.

T'ria awoke abruptly from her thoughts by the sound of rustling metal, which indicated that her cell was being opened. She got to her feet and retreated to the back of her concrete room, devoid of anything except for the walls of her confinement and a lightbulb.

Two soldiers stepped in with their hands resting on their pistols. They took an evaluating look at her, apparently deeming her non-threatening, and proceeded with standing at attention on each side of the door.

A uniformed man entered and she instantly recognized the grey haired man and his pristine outfit as Generalfeldmarshall Kietel.

He motioned at one of the guards, who went outside and returned with two rusty looking chairs. The guard put them both down on the floor and turned them so they faced each other.

Kietel motioned at the chair closest to T'ria.

"Sit, Dr. T'ria." He ordered.

Remembering the relentless beating from earlier days, T'ria reluctantly obeyed and warily walked to the chair and sat down. Kietel followed suit and took his chair moments later.

"I hear that you have been uncooperative with our demands, doctor." Kietel said, gazing casually at T'ria, "This makes me very disappointed."

T'ria snorted, "Sorry to disappoint you General, you need to understand that casually slaughtering most of my fellow crewmembers hardly puts me in a cooperative mood. I am acting accordingly to our protocol with this mission, namely that any dangerous _and_ uncivilized races will receive zero cooperation. _Even_ if that cost us our lives." T'ria finished in her analytical and somewhat defiant voice.

Kietel merely smiled at this, "Oh but I _do_ think that you will cooperate Dr. T'ria." Kietel got up from his chair and started pacing about. "We were initially surprised by your lack of self-preservation as prisoners, and we merely attributed this behavior to the usual arrogance that seem to come with your race," Kietel looked up and faced T'ria's stoical face that gave a few tiny hints of anger, _oh how easily provoked they are, not used to being on the wrong side of a gun are you?_ Kietel thought to himself, "but after pushing your dear Captain Naira a bit further, she began threatening us and implying that 'we would be punished' and that 'they will know'."

T'ria remained expression and motionless as Kietel closely observed her reaction. When she didn't reply, Kietel smiled and continued.

"My colleagues thought that this was probably just some act of desperation and intimidation from your Captain's side, but I think otherwise. As the man in charge of this operation I have to assess all possible risks that your galactic civilization may pose toward our Reich, and I deem her threat as credible." Kietel said calmly as he kept monitoring T'ria for any kind of reaction.

"A civilization as _grand_ as yours, a civilization that can break the laws of physics and get away with it; surely you have some form of communication methods unknown to us, surely you can contact your superiors with something that is relevant to your _mission_." Kietel said.

T'ria gave a hint of a smile to this, as she began to realize what the General was after.

"And if that was the case, General, you would be made to pay the price dearly for the crimes your government has committed against a peaceful envoy."

Generalfeldmarshall Kietel dropped all pretense of chivalry and glared at the Asari.

"Call them off Doctor, I know you have the means to do it. Call them off if the lives of you and your remaining fellow crewmembers mean anything to you! We know for a _fact_ that only an Asari can make the call!" Kietel spoke progressively louder and louder, as his patience deteriorated.

T'ria finally understood why they were pressuring her and not the Captain; the Captain refused to do it, and as the only remaining _Asari_ crewmember, she could appeal to councilor Tevos directly and call the search and rescue off. Tevos was known for going off the books and working around the rest of the Council. _But I will not buckle either, why should I? In a few weeks a rescue party may already be here!_ T'ria thought to herself.

"I cannot in good faith do this, General. I'm afraid that you will have to face your reckoning" T'ria said with her head held up high.

Kietel didn't seem too surprised by this answered and visibly calmed himself into a more respectable manner. "It's easy to be brave and honorable, when you can't even see the true horrors that can be inflicted upon you, isn't it?"

T'ria looked at the General defiantly, but couldn't help but shiver when he asked, "Are you familiar with the term 'vivisection'?" Kietel let the silence hang in the air for just a few moments, "Allow me to introduce you to our very own junior Doctor; Doctor Mengele."

* * *

 _Dr. T'ria, observational room adjacent to operating room, Kummersdorf, Germany 19_ _th_ _of May._

T'ria was sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the observation room with a huge glass window in front of her. She observed, in horror, that Captain Naira was being rolled in on a stretcher and thereafter bound to the operating table in the middle of the room.

Sitting beside her were several other spectators, all of them German soldiers or officers; she would have no route of escape, a fanciful thought she had abandoned very long ago. _Even if I could muster the strength to use some of my biotics, there will be countless numbers of these damned humans outside_ , T'ria thought to herself.

A young man dressed in white clothes and gloves entered the operating room. He had a cheerful disposition and strode into the middle of the room with a whole bunch of henchmen by his side.

"Greetings _Alien_ and gentlemen." The man spoke into the microphone hanging in the middle of the room, about half a meter above his head. "My name is Doctor Josef Mengele, and I have the _delightful_ pleasure of perform this, first of a kind, procedure on a live specimen from a different planet." The doctor said merrily.

T'ria felt herself submerge into trepidation, as her thoughts lingered on what horrific experiments these primitive, but devious, creatures were about to perform on her kin.

She glanced to her right, and saw a familiar face looking at her, with something akin to sympathy.

"No matter what you think of me, or think about _us_ ," the voice belonging to the first interactions she had with this Goddess forgotten race, whispered quietly to her, "You should know that I do not approve of this action."

T'ria warily turned to face Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz.

"Why won't you just _do what they say_ ; you have to power to make this stop!"

"I trusted you, Mr. Schwartz, and _your people_ committed a despicable act upon our diplomatic mission," T'ria retorted quietly, "Such an act is unforgivable, no matter at what degree you were involved".

She didn't fully believe her own words though; while the young Hauptmann certainly was convinced of his nation's superiority, he did seem to possess something resembling a conscience. The way he had interacted with them aboard the _**Liliac**_ had surely been strained, she still held an irrational hope in her mind that she had somehow shook his perspective on the world.

Bruno shook his head slowly at T'ria.

"This isn't some kind of political pressure from me, Doctor. This is me trying to convince you that you _can_ save your Captain lying there on the table." Bruno motioned towards Captain Naira, who was struggling against her restraints, as Mengele was rolling in a table with a surgical tray, which had several drills, saws and ballpoint hammers, in it.

Their conversation was cut short as Mengele smiled to the audience, and started one of his electrical drills. The piercing sound filled the observational room as well, and T'ria watched in horror as the 'Doctor' brought it towards Naira's legs.

"For my first experiment, I wish to see how these _Asari's_ knees work from the _inside_. They do bear a remarkable resemblance to us, don't they? Let's how they work in action" Mengele shouted over the sound of his drill.

T'ria physically recoiled as the drill entered Naira's left knee from the side. The noise of the drill was covered by the screams of agony from the Asari, as the floor started to be painted with purple blood.

After a good twenty seconds of drilling, Mengele put away the drill and grabbed a pair of surgical clamps, using them to expand the two centimeter hole, so he could get a better look inside the suffering Asari's knee.

"Oh yes!" Mengele exclaimed enthusiastically, "Their joints do seem to hold a remarkable resemblance to our own. But I will need a more _open_ point of view to examine more thoroughly."

Mengele grabbed a hammer and swung it in a wide arch, hitting the knee with a disturbingly crushing sound. The Asari Captain rocked back and forth in her restraints, as the deranged Doctor repeatedly struck her knee, until it was only a bleeding goo of meat.

"Hmm, it is quite hard to distinguish the individual parts at the moment, but luckily we have one to spare!" The doctor said, face covered in purple blood.

"But now, onto something a bit more fascinating; do their eyes react as ours do? And how far can we remove it from the body of the host until it stops functioning?"

T'ria's entire body was shaking, and she could taste the bile rising in her throat. She watched in horror as one of Mengele's henchmen pried Naira's left eye wide open, and the doctor went to grab another pair of surgical clamps, and positioned himself next to Naira's head.

"Remember, T'ria, you can stop this at any moment! Please, I beg you to!" Bruno said to her, a sense of urgency apparent in his voice.

" _No!"_ A voice shouted as Mengele's clamp made contact with Naira's eye lobe.

The entire observational room turned to look at Dr. T'ria, as she stood up, her entire body shaking.

The German doctor also stopped his prying at the sound of this, and looked towards the observational window in something akin to disappointment. Blood was running down the side of the now, unconscious, Captain's face.

T'ria hung her head and turned towards the back of the room, "I will do what you ask, but please, don't hurt the Captain anymore, I cannot bear it!" She started sobbing uncontrollably, and the whole room was surprised when the saw the young Hauptmann gingerly put his arm over her shoulder as he lead her out of the room.

If she would have turned around in the doorway, she would have noticed the triumphant look on Generalfeldmarshall Kietel's face.

* * *

 _Sergeant Victus, Holding cell, Kummersdorf, Germany 19_ _th_ _of May._

A mere hour after the 'surgery' of Captain Naira, Sergeant Victus sat in a newly added cushioned chair in his cell. The shape of the thing was all wrong for his particular body type, but he wasn't one to complain about his newfound sign of comfort; it was a prize, albeit a small one, for his cooperation with the Humans. They had even gone through lengths to supply him with some dextro-based food from the now defunct _**Liliac**_ _._

His door rustled as Generalfeldmarshall Kietel entered with two guards.

"Sergeant Victus, I trust that my men are treating you fairly, and have supplied you adequately with supplies?" Kietel inquired.

Victus nodded to the General, a person whose ruthlessness and sheer cunning had left Victus grudgingly acknowledging that the man had earned an ounce of his respect.

Kietel smiled as he leaned back in the chair he now permanently kept in the Turian's cell.

"I must say that your advice on how to get the Asari doctor's cooperation was more than helpful; we now have her complete cooperation and now have the means to avoid a Council intervention."

Victus felt uneasy about what they had done with Captain Naira, and how he had helped the humans conceive the plan to shock T'ria into submission.

"It was necessary for our continued survival, even if the Captain and T'ria are too stubborn to admit it. They are unfortunately blinded by their naivety and inexperience with losing crewmembers. Even though I am known to be somewhat… _hot tempered_ … I can realize when I have been beaten." He begrudgingly admitted.

"An admirable trait Sergeant, and a trait that will allow you, and hopefully the doctor, to survive this ordeal." Kietel said with a sympathetic voice.

The silence lingered for a few moments, before Kietel broke it by motioning one of his guards to bring him the clipboard the uniformed soldier had been holding.

"Now, you mentioned in an earlier meeting about your cousin, Horrus, was it?"

Victus nodded, "He is an arms dealer, and doesn't ask too many questions. The trouble will be to retrieve his shipment, without him landing here. Unless the package will be sent as an orbital drop, we will have to agree on a meeting place. One preferably outside this solar system."

Kietel wrinkled his face at this, an expression that Victus found difficult to read.

"I understand your reasoning Sergeant, but do not forget your place here; I am no fool, and to let you escape our solar system with your space ship at this moment would spell disaster for us." Kietel said, in a somewhat growling fashion.

"I will instead ask you this; will your brother personally deliver the products that we have ordered?"

"No." Victus answered.

"His operation is not strictly by the books is it? And therefore I can assume that his transactions, especially this one, do not have the endorsement of any form of government or official business?"

"That would be correct."

"Then he will be ordered to deliver the shipment here in person to a designated landing zone." Kietel said. "I assume that you are not afraid to be an active participant of this plan, are you?"

Victus knew what the General was implying, and all in all, he wasn't too concerned about it. After all, who would miss some dumb grunt to an illegal arms enterprise?

* * *

 _Horrus Victus, aboard the frigate_ _ **Moreen**_ _, Terminus space, 21_ _st_ _of May, EST, Earth time._

Horrus shook his head in disbelief as he finished the message he had received on his Omni-Tool. He was sitting in the Captain's quarters, a mess of a room that had dim, industrial lighting, something that was a recurring trait aboard the thoroughly used and fairly old ship.

The ship had been acquired in a less than scrupulous manner by Captain Horrus Victus, and had been used widely as his command base for his operations.

The message he had before him was from a person he hadn't been in contact with in _years_ , Tonikus Victus. He was asking for a shipment of some of the lowest grade weaponry that could be found, as well as some shield generators. The only thing that really stood out as somewhat expensive was a substantial amount of Element Zero. The Eezo order itself was something of a mystery; surely a weapons dealer like himself was not the first person to ask for this?

His cousin had, however, offered a substantial amount of payment, so much in fact that Horrus wondered how his cousin could have managed to save up over two million credits over the years with his military salary. Included in the payment was his cousin's apartment on Palaven, a dwelling that was in a fairly good location and was therefore valued just shy of one million credits.

The destination of the shipment was somewhat of a mystery, as was his cousin's demand to _only_ reveal the location to the _single_ crewmember that would operate the ship. This made Horrus feel a bit uneasy, but the substantial amount of payment, for what seemed like a low risk and low cost job, convinced him to accept nonetheless.

He knew that there was only one person in his operation that actually enjoyed doing solo up, and was never one to back down from a pay, even if this mission would seem a bit easy for him. He would have to convince his hired gun that there was a great deal of uncertainty and perhaps even some action involved.

Horrus lit up his Omni-Tool and recorded a message for his operative.

"I am in need of your services for a shipment procurement and delivery. Proceed to these coordinates for acquirement of the shipment and then you will be contacted about our client about the details. I know you're not a fan of the delivery jobs, but this one is without a doubt going to need your expertise." Horrus half-lied into his omni-tool.

"Give me a call when you're there, Wrex."

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **So I've been moving to a new country, so that's why I've been a bit away.**

 **I appreciate all the comments and views, well most of them. The nazi-death threats are maybe not super hilarious.**

 **I write this story to get a bit of different perspective and go with something a bit more _taboo_ I guess. I do not support nazi war-crimes or anything. Just want to write a different story.**

 **Please review if you want to, I do read them all, even if I have sucked at replying lately.**


	7. Chapter 7: Gehärteter Stahl

_Chapter 7: Gehärteter Stahl_

* * *

 _Councilor Tevos' private chambers, The Citadel. 28_ _th_ _of May 1940, Earth Time._

"… _of our transponder during our rough transit through the previously unmapped Arcturus Relay, we were unable to proceed with our regular updates. The relay delivered us into a belt of asteroids and planetary debris. Captain Naira and most of the crew were lost during a severe hull breech, leaving me and the rest of the crew to attempt repairs. Our drive core and communication system is now partly operational, and we will proceed with a regular transit through the Arcturus system. The FTL drive and our autonomous positioning system are some of the systems still damaged, meaning that our trip back to Citadel space will be taking about two years. Our security chief has already contacted his Turian contacts who are less than three weeks away, meaning that we will receive adequate repairs, and if that fails, transport back to Citadel space…"_

Tevos closed the report from Dr. Tria and frowned; how convenient that the transponder _and_ the FTL drive were not one hundred percent operational. Something about the whole ordeal made the Asari councilor feel uneasy. But as the report was closed, fifty more had appeared in the minute that she had spent on the **Liliac's** report. Therefore, the Asari took a sip from her Thessian wine, and erased all of her worries of the matter.

* * *

 _Werner von Braun, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 28_ _th_ _of May 1940._

"He is landing _where?!"_ Werner shouted to flight control and Sergeant Victus, while jumping up from his seat in the control room.

Sergeant Victus looked up from his omni-tool, flexing his mandibles, something Werner had grown accustomed to meaning annoyance or frustration.

"The operative my cousin is, like I said, a Krogan. These creatures do not value discretion or secrecy. He's most likely dropping in his personal shuttle to access the situation and the fighting prowess of this world's native species; meaning you."

Werner trembled in rage as he spoke, "He will blow our cover to the Allies, making them gain interest and ambition about alien tech. Atleast have him wear some kind of armor and our colors, so he doesn't succumb to friendly fire. And he _must_ _not_ allow our enemies to witness this."

Victus smiled meekly, "I do not think Urdnot Wrex will leave _any_ witnesses."

* * *

 _Sergeant Daniel Morris, 12_ _th_ _Royal Lancers, outskirts of Dunkirk. France, 28_ _th_ _of May 1940_

Sgt. Morris was watching as his regiment was doing its best effort to hold back the German advance towards the beaches of Dunkirk. The evacuation was in full sway, and regiment's orders were to halt the German onslaught as best they could. So far they were doing an admirable job with the resources they had; their Morris CS9 armored cars were doing what they could with their 0.55 inch anti-tank armament. Their primary weapon was adequate in knocking out the Panzer I and IIs, although a favorable angle, and range within one hundred meters were preferable for a penetrating shot. Due to their vehicles' light armor, any return fire would often prove fatal.

In the grassy hills in the idyllic French landscape, the 12th had dug in hard, and had successfully pushed back three major German assaults over the last two days. Every assault on their position had depleted their men, ammunition and vehicles considerably, but their resolve was as strong as ever. Their only true fear came from the Luftwaffe, to which they didn't have a true answer, due to their severe lack of anti-aircraft weaponry. But the _Stukas_ had only strafed Morris' position once during their entrenchment of their current position.

In Morris' perimeter, there were twelve functioning armored cars, and about three hundred men, armed with small arms and a few anti-tank rifles.

Morris was on high alert as the radio had just announced an incoming German armored advance on their position, and the Sergeant could hear the distant rumble of German steel and lead heading towards them.

As the first German tanks and soldiers became visible, the marksmen of the regiment were beginning to pour sporadic fire on the advancing enemy, whilst the rest of the men held their fire; ammunition was to be conserved until you could make a clear kill-shot.

In the middle of the mayhem of noise, there was a, _different_ , sound coming from the skies. Morris and his men first took to the ground, as the distinctively _wobbling_ sound was somewhat akin to a wayward artillery shell. When the blast they were expecting never came, they first looked at each other, and then to the skies, where they saw the _thing_. It looked something like a tram, cut horizontally in the middle. Lights were emitting from behind it, looking somewhat similar to a tank's exhaust, albeit it seemed to radiate more _power_.

Remembering his duty, Morris again took aim from behind the broken wall he was using as cover, and prepared to hail bullets on the incoming Germans. He was not a little astonished when he noticed that they had stopped their advance, and were taking up positions in the obviously exposed hillsides facing the 12th's men, taking escalating fire.

Morris' focus was again broken by the wobbling sound coming from _behind_ him, and he turned around sharply. He could see what looked like the door, to the side of the flying thing was opening. Out walked a creature of a size the Sergeant had never seen, and clad in armor unlike anything of this world. The creature's entire armor was covered in at least twenty swastikas, seeming to have been hastily and sloppily drawn on it.

The flying tram flew about five meters up into the air as the astonished British Lancers watched the creature donning a rifle, larger than anything mounted on their armored cars or even tanks.

With a bellowing roar that shook the men facing it, the creature started running the twenty meters towards their position, and at the same time the armored cars in the vicinity exploded. The flying tram was shooting some kind of advanced German weaponry that almost seemed to ignite their vehicles like they were made of twigs.

Morris started firing at the creature now running towards them, but every shot seemed to only result in a blueish-purple light flicking momentarily near the creature's body. As the roaring, Nazi abomination came closer to them, it started firing away with its heavy weaponry. Two volleys from the apparent shotgun, resulted in two of Morris' fellow soldiers being severed in two, a hit in their abdomen regions separating their lower bodies from their torsos. A desperate soldier threw a grenade at the creature, which it then proceeded in throwing back at the unlucky soldier, ending the man's life in a fiery explosion of fire and gore. At this carnage the creature actually started to _laugh_ , in a very non-human way. This was enough for the nearest men who turned around and started running in the opposite direction. This was to no avail as a blueish light seemed to _capture_ the men fleeing, and made them actually _float_ in the air, with their arms waving wildly. The creature fired two more rounds, which made the floating men's heads explode.

An armored car with a brave driver decided the charge the beast head-on, firing wildly on its approach. The shots seemed to hit home, as the beast staggered for half a second, followed by a roaring _charge_ against the vehicle.

What followed took away most of the sanity that the battle hardened sergeant had left; when the creature and vehicle connected, the car's front rose to the sky, severely dented. The Nazi beast of destruction physically _flipped_ the four and a half tons heavy vehicle, making it hit the ground violently upside-down.

This was enough for the rest of the surviving men in the crumbling perimeter, and they all started flee in an unorganized fashion. Their retreat was being bombarded by the flying tram, and men were enveloped in fire as they were being vaporized.

Morris watched the carnage, and went limp. He fell to his knees, watching the death of his fellow soldiers in apathy. Someone grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the destruction, but all he could hear was the roaring laughter, and a distinct dialect of German he could not identify.

* * *

 _Urdnot Wrex, outskirts of Dunkirk. France, 28_ _th_ _of May 1940_

"What honor is there in _running_ , weak minded pyjaks!" Wrex bellowed as his M-300 Claymore took down the last of the straggling pink-skinned _Humans_ , standing in the middle of what was left of their so-called entrenchment.

His blood-lust sated, and no more of the pathetic creatures within shotgun length anymore, Wrex folded his shotgun and attached it to his magnetic holster on his back. In the distance he could see the other Humans cowering in a comfortable distance, and he assumed that they were the supposed _Allies_ of this Turian that the delivery was expected to. Not that he could figure out what business a Turian would have with a primitive, undiscovered race. Wrex shrugged as he started walking towards the _Germans_ that the Turian had mentioned in his frantic reports to Wrex when he was approaching the planet. Politics of Turians bored him, and he was here for a paycheck, and for the prospect of battling with a new, perhaps promising race. So far he was far from impressed with the Humans' skill in waging war, but he also realized that he had only caught a fraction of a glimpse of what they could be. After all, they seemed to be donning some incredibly primitive weaponry, which was hardly even capable of getting through his shields.

Wrex readied the translator-pack that the Turian had forwarded him, as he came close to the Germans. Although he was always itching for a worthy battle, even he could see just how many guns were trained on him when he was walking in the open. He readied the shuttles firing system, just in case.

The Humans looked awe struck, and looked curiously at the Human symbols that he had grudgingly painted on his armor to identify himself as a friendly to the pink-skins. He pointed at the nearest youngling and spoke with an artificially amplified voice.

"You, take me to your leader, now."

Even though he of course didn't have any official command over these primitives, he knew that his display of prowess had brought them into submission. _Fear_ he thought _is the universal language among all species._

* * *

 _Generalfeldmarshall Kietel, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 29_ _th_ _of May 1940._

"So, Mister Wrex, you're telling me that you attacked and eliminated the specific defensive perimeter, just because you wanted to _have some fun?_ " Kietel said, as he stared at the _huge_ Alien in disbelief.

The Alien was leaning against the wall in the conference room, showing only disinterest in the whole ordeal. He didn't seem particularly astonished about meeting a new race, and had so far been unmoved by anything, except for showing some interest in the disposal of the crew of the **Liliac** , something Kietel still hadn't given in full detail to the Krogan looming over him.

"Yep." Was the answer, and only sign that the creature had even listened to what Kietel had said.

Victus was standing beside Kietel, and was displaying what Kietel thought was amusement.

Kietel's shook his head and strode on, "So I assume that the small craft that you came down with does not hold all the items that we have ordered, could you please elaborate on _when_ and _where_ we will acquire said material?" Kietel barely surpassed the urge to grit his teeth, mostly due to the reports of how the Alien before him had single handedly defeated over a hundred British soldiers in an entrenched position.

The Krogan shifted and glared at Kietel as _he_ spoke, "My ship is in orbit, and ready to make your coordinates at a moment's notice, but not before I have watched your vids of the taking of the Asari vessel. Purely for my entertainment." The Krogan said, as he smiled viciously.

Kietel looked at the Turian beside him, who nodded as their eyes met. They had already ruled out any action against the Krogan, for now, as Victus had informed them that the Krogan could destroy their base and everyone in it, before they could even get a shot in. The Krogan _was_ killable, but taking him down would mean such a tremendous loss of manpower and materiel, that it would hardly be worth it. _This is not some naïve Asari expedition,_ Victus had said. The Krogan most definitely had some kind of contingency plan with his ship in orbit, if things would go south. So Kietel would play along, for now.

"Very well, we will show you what we documented of our operation, _if_ you guarantee that our shipment will be delivered. We have already transferred your funds." Kietel said sternly, in an attempt to be commanding with the creature.

The Krogan just answered, "Show me."

* * *

 _Urdnot Wrex, ANTWORT base, Kummersdorf, Germany, 29_ _th_ _of May 1940._

Urdnot Wrex was laughing a bellowing laugh, as he watched the incredibly grainy frames that the Germans had filmed of their taking of the **Liliac** , and the detailed description that the so called _General_ supplied. To see how easily the Asari had been duped was nothing short of _comedy_ to him.

"You've got a _quad_ you pyjak, I'll give you that!" Wrex said in a somewhat approving manner to the Human. "But you should know that you were lucky with your catch; a Krogan mercenary ship would have turned your whole country to ashes if you would have tried something like that. Not that we would have any reason to even go on any pointless exploration." He added, just to punctuate the _danger_ he was to them. The danger they most assuredly now _also_ knew he posed.

To see the Turian twitch at the footage in embarrassment made the experience even more enjoyable to Wrex.

"Alright I will have your shipment sent down wherever you want it, on one condition." Wrex added.

Kietel visibly stiffened at this, but composed himself to ask in a neutral tone, "And what would that be?"

Wrex shifted towards Kietel and gave him his full attention since dropping down on the rock they called _Earth_. "You have my curiosity, and I'm going to stay a while. It will be … entertaining for me."

"And can you then promise to stay out of _our_ conflict?" Kietel added with a steely voice that Wrex assumed instilled fear and respect among his species.

"Oh no, I can promise you that I will be involved where I see fit, and if you have a problem with that, you can kiss your _base,_ life and supplies goodbye. You can see my role as one of pure education and curiosity." Wrex countered, smirking.

Kietel sighed, nodded quickly, and rushed out of the room.

Wrex chuckled to himself, _oh this might be a fun job after all._

* * *

 **AN _:_ Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8: Neues Spielzeug

Chapter 8: Neues Spielzeug

* * *

 _Generalfeldmarshall Kietel, Alkett tank factory, Factory I, Borsigwalde, Berlin, Germany. 21_ _st_ _of June 1940._

Kietel shivered in his impeccable uniform, as he exited the automobile parked outside the rather non-impressive Factory I building. It was a standard workshop built with bricks, and large windows that let in light, and normally, at seven o'clock in the morning, it would be alive with the sound of labor from the men inside it.

Today was not an ordinary day though for the factory, or for Kietel either. The last few months for Kietel had been anything _but_ normal. But suffice to say; it took something extra incredible to force the Generalfeldmarshall of the Wehrmacht to not be able to relish the victory over the French, and bask in Paris for a day with the others after the signing of the armistice.

The Krogan had delivered his shipment, to the right coordinates this time, and the best engineers in the country had been assimilated into the ANTWORT group to work with the new material and technology, trying their best to make sense of it all. The development group was now spearheaded by Werner von Braun, who was temporarily relocated from producing spaceships to producing actual weapons.

There had been several different teams assembled, in many different places; firearms, aviation, tanks, armor, artillery and more. It was going to be determined what equipment of the German war machine, would benefit from a fusion with alien technology.

The reason Kietel had abandoned the victory parade in Paris for a cold morning in Berlin, was that the designated ANTWORT development team had finally managed to produce some prototypes.

Kietel made his way from the parked Opel and an armed guard saluted him and opened the wide, barn-like door to the factory.

He entered the huge, somewhat empty, area that was the repurposed factory's main testing and production site. It was at least twelve meters to the roof, easily fifty meters from side to side, and three hundred meters in length.

When Kietel stepped further in, he was greeted by the sight of the development team standing in a semi-circle around a tank. There was Werner von Braun, of course, clad in a once white lab coat, and sporting what looked like a week old beard. The General knew that von Braun's party loyalties were only of a pragmatic sort, and it was likely that the man had hoped not to encounter any violence whatsoever from his collaboration with the German war machine. Kietel could did not find that very troublesome; von Braun was a scientist first and foremost and he was best kept away from the frontlines and in an academic environment. _But this war of wars,_ Kietel thought, _this German fight for justice and vengeance, will affect everyone soon enough._ Kietel had also ordered the trusty and proven Hauptmann Bruno Schwarz to be assigned to monitor and give feedback from the perspective of an "ordinary grunt". The ulterior motive of the assignment was to monitor von Braun to make sure that his integrity and dedication to the Reich remained unhindered from any distractions.

Standing next to Schwarz, with a puzzling expression as usual, was the Turian, Sergeant Victus. Due to his cooperation and proven indispensability, he was being kept as an advisor, along with Dr. T'ria, who was now sufficiently cowed and cooperative as well. The aliens were never allowed to work at the same times, or have any kind of communication. The thought was that any disobedience or plan for escape would never be given the chance to materialize by hampering the contact and communication between the aliens.

Kietel saw that Werner was about to begin one of his long tirades, but he held up a hand to stop the man's imminent discharge of meaningless words.

"I have been flying through the night from France, Werner, I would wish only to be put through a presentation of your results that doesn't take the whole day please," Werner said, in a somewhat pleading voice, preparing for an outburst from the unshaven scientist in front of him.

To Kietel's surprise, Werner only did a small shrug and cleared his throat.

"Panzer IV ausf.X, a prototype of the modified version of the upcoming PZ IV Ausf.E, has been successfully manufactured and tested, and I dare say that it is a success," Werner said as he took a few steps towards the tank and happily slapped it a few times on the front, "With the help from the Turian we managed to integrate a …" Werner looked down at his notes, " _shield generator_ , and with it we are able to generate a form of energy shield around it."

Werner motioned for everybody to walk behind a cover of what looked to be parts of a slaughtered tank, with plastic windows.

"Due to the secrecy of this project," Kietel continued as they huddled behind the cover, "We have had to conduce all of our testing indoors."

To the right of the cover, a Pak 36 was taking aim, manned by a crew of two.

"The armor on the rear of this prototype is only twenty millimeters thick, and the shell of a Pak 36 will penetrate at least sixty millimeters at this distance," Werner continued, "watch what happens!"

Everyone behind the cover covered their ears as the gun fired its round. There was a faint blue light visible for only a second through the smoke and haze. But as the tank became visible again, it was evident that a rear penetration had not been accomplished.

"As you can see, the vehicle is still very much functional, without any kind of penetration," Werner added, "the recharge time after a point blank hit like this is about one minute, but not of course as much if the shot comes from afar or is a mere glancing hit. At the moment the shield is quite visible when it absorbs a shot, but our aim is to put dual plates with weaker outer layer and thereby mask the presence of the shield…"

Kietel interrupted the man with another raised hand, "I haven't got the whole day Werner, remember?" He reminded with just a slight hint of warning in his voice; the excitement of the scientist was understandable.

"Ah yes," Werner said, absent mindedly attempting to comb his unkempt hair, "let's have a look from the inside, shall we?"

Only Kietel, Werner, Bruno and Victus entered the tank to inspect von Braun's modifications, and despite it being a cramped space, the four of them fit quite comfortably inside the prototype.

It was evident that the tank had undergone modifications; the viewports had all been replaced with what seemed like the _floating electronic screens_ that had been present aboard the aliens' ship. They provided what seemed like targeting assistance and an interface that highlighted things, like the people around the tank. The screens allowed full vision, 360 degrees.

Victus was the first one to speak up, "We added a basic interface setup for Turian armored fighting vehicle, these screens can track movement, see through smoke and darkness." Kietel stared speechless at the sheer amount of information that his brain was trying to make sense of.

The Turian looked amused at the often stoic Kietel's bewilderment, "Just think of it as magic, and don't try to digest it all General, your race is about two hundred years away from this kind of technology. We've done our best to make it fool-proof, so that it will be easy to train a crew."

Kietel collected himself and turned towards Werner, ignoring the Turian, "What about the gun?"

Werner smiled at Kietel, "Well, sir, we have remodeled and strengthened the gun with new alloys provided to us thanks to Dr. T'ria and the assistance of Hauptmann Schwarz. These allow the gun to survive the incredible speed and stress we put them through. We still use the same seventy five millimeter caliber, to better match our production infrastructure, but with specially manufactured tungsten rounds for use against armor, as well as option for fragmentation and high explosive munition."

Kietel looked at the gun itself, it didn't look very different from a normal tank or antitank gun to him, but he was willing to believe von Braun when it came to the technical aspects of the project.

"A real definite advantage in the use of the so called _Mass Effect technology_ ," Werner continued, "is the secondary armament of the prototype; the MG 40X has incorporated the alien technology with ours, and what it does is provide basically limitless ammunition. The only thing we really need to watch out for with these weapons is heat."

"Disciplined firing would basically mean that we can pour fire downrange indefinitely," Bruno added, "that is why I recommend the application of this technology to all small arms we can apply it to."

"You must remember that you are limited in supply by my shipments," Victus added, in what he probably assumed was a smooth transition, "in order to obtain enough element zero for your projects, we need to keep a working relationship going. And a working relationship would be beneficial if the one acquiring this for you would be allowed some freedoms and not be treated like a prisoner of war."

Kietel turned around and looked at the turian; he had to admit, he was impressed, the guts this one had were not to be understated. To be captured on a foreign world, to see your comrades slaughtered and _still_ be more than willing to play an extortionist, that ignited a tiny bit of respect in the hard façade Kietel. _But he needs to remember who's in charge,_ Kietel thought to himself.

"You are more than right of course Victus," Kietel responded, resulting in incredulous looks from his countrymen and a smug alien.

"I shall allow Wrex to join us freely on the testing grounds for these vehicles and let him give us opinion, after all, he _is_ the one to provide us with our precious materiel, _isn't he sergeant?_ " Kietel said in a cold voice, more akin to his usual persona.

The smirk that had appeared on the Turian's face was replaced with a scowl.

"I… yes General." He mumbled.

"That's what I thought, and others might be wise to keep their comments to their selves, lest they want more privileges taken away from them."

Kietel turned towards von Braun, who neither looked satisfied with the exchange nor dissatisfied; just tired.

"How soon can we begin producing tanks and firearms en masse, Werner?" Kietel asked.

"That depends, what resources are at our disposal?" Werner asked.

"You have the Reich at your disposal, just build me an army!" Kietel said excitedly, as he exited the tank.

He did not see the looks exchanged by Werner and Victus as he exited. A look of meaning that hinted towards some earlier conversation. A look that didn't elude Bruno Schwarz sitting behind the two.

* * *

 _Sergeant Daniel Morris, sole survivor of the 12_ _th_ _Royal Lancers, London. England, 21_ _st_ _of June 1940_

"… of him and his unit that the evacuation came into immediate danger, why should I even listen to what this _lancer_ has to say.." The decorated General in his office at army intelligence command half said, half shouted, to a Colonel as Morris entered the room on crutches.

"Sergeant Morris reporting, sir!" Morris announced.

"At ease Sergeant." The General replied in an annoyed voice.

On his desk were the pictures that Morris had been drawing ever since he came back from across the channel. The pictures of the Nazi abomination, the flying death machine, the entire ordeal had been drawn by him, as thoroughly as he had managed, even when facing ridicule.

"The reason you should listen to his report, General," the Colonel said, "is because these are similar to a description given by a serviceman of the Royal Airforce, before he was mysteriously shot down from an impossible altitude, from an impossible angle."

He opened a folder and put it on the general's desk.

"And this picture is from a resistance cell located in Germany, I daresay that it's almost an exact match, and we are able to trace it, back to this," the Colonel said, as he gave the General another document titled: **Die Vorherrschaft**.

"I think, General, that we might want consider a new research branch."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hey I'm alive. Played some ME and watched some documentary about WW2 and suddenly felt the urge to write again. Be prepared that the updates are going to be sporadic though!**


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